Corridor Chronicles: Profiles of Cross-Border Activities in The
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Corridor Chronicles—Profiles of Cross-Border Activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion This is a colorful account of a 19-day journey along the new or upgraded economic corridors linking members of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Based on conversations with ordinary folk, especially entrepreneurs, these stories show how trade and tourism in particular are burgeoning with improving connectivity between People’s Republic of China’s Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, Viet Nam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Cambodia. About the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is made up of six countries—Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In 1992, these countries launched a program of subregional economic cooperation to enhance their economic relations, building on their shared histories and cultures. Focusing on “three Cs”—connectivity, competitiveness, and community—the GMS is closely involved in pursuing high-priority subregional projects in nine sectors. These are transport, telecommunications, energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, trade facilitation, investment, and human resource development. About the Asian Development Bank ADB's vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region's many successes, it remains home to two thirds of the world's poor: 1.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day, with 903 million struggling on less than $1.25 a day. ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. CORRIDOR CHRONICLES Profiles of Cross Border Activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines www.adb.org Publication Stock No. ARM090137 Printed in the Philippines GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION ECONOMIC CORRIDORS o 98 00'E 108o 00'E 1 Profiles of Cross-Border Activity Guilin 6 GUANGXI, PRC Gateway to the South I NDIA Myitkyina Dali Hexian o Chuxiong Kunming 24 00'N Longshuanka Wuzhou VIET NAM Mangshi Baise GUANGXIZHUANG 10 New Dawn in Highlands Ruili Yuxi AUTONOMOUS REGION 24o 00'N Tamu YUNNAN PROVINCE Tonzang Muse PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Gejiu Yulin Nanning Chindwi VIET NAM Salween (Thanlwin) 16 Hill Tribes Rely on Tourists Lashio Hekou Pu’er Youyiguan Pingxiang Qinzhou Lao Cai HuuNghi nR Thibaw Fangcheng . Jinghong Lang Son Dongxing YUNNAN, PRC Business on the Move YenBai Mong Cai 20 BANGLADESH Mandalay Mengla Daluo Kep Mohan HA NOI Kengtung Nateuli Boten HaiPhong HoaBinh Loilem Tachilek Luang Namtha MaeSai Houayxay LAO PEOPLE’S Ninh Binh GulfofTonkin MYANMAR Chiang Saen Chiang DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC Thanh Hoa NAYPYIDAW Chiang Rai Khong Luang Prabang Pyay Phayao Vangvieng Vinh Chiang Mai Table of Contents Pakkading A y VIENTIANE Ban Lao e y Phrae a Lampang w Nong Khai a d Denchai Nakhon Phanom y Loei Thakhek Uttaradit Udon Thani Dong Ha Sukhothai Hue Pathein Tak Mukdahan Khon Kaen Kaysone Phomvihane Da Nang Phitsanulok Yangon Mae-Sot Kalasin T HAILAND Salavan Mawlamyine Kamphaeng Dung Quat Phet LAO PDR Opening Up a Tranquil Land Gulfof Chaiyaphum Pakse 26 Nakhon Sawan Phouvong VIET NAM Martaban Dietri Ye Nakhon Ratchasima LAO PDR Better Access to Health Care QuyNhon 32 Ayutthaya Pleiku Dawei BANGKOK Stung Treng A NDAMANSEA Poipet Siem Reap Aranyaprathet THAILAND Crossing the Mekong Chonburi CAMBODIA 36 TonleSap Da Lat Trat Myeik Sattahip Kampong Cham THAILAND Phitsanulok—A Regional Hub? GulfofThailand KohKong 42 MocBai Prachuap Khiri Khan PHNOM PENH Bavet Ho ChiMinh City Sre Ambel Kampot o Vung Tau 10 00'N CAMBODIA Bolstering Tourism Sihanoukville 46 Chumphon Ha Tien o 10 00'N Kawthoung Can Tho Ca Mau 54 CAMBODIA Cross-Border Entrepreneurs Surat Thani NamCan N National Capital City/Town Phuket Corridor Chronicles was conceived by Ronnie Butiong and coordinated by Charisse Tubianosa. Ian Gill wrote 050 100 200 300 Greater Mekong Subregion Trang the stories and took the photographs, with the invaluable assistance and guidance of Lei Kan, Dang Huu Cu, Songkhla Economic Corridors Kilometers Asian Highway Network Souphavanh Phonmany, Roykaew Nitithanprapas, and Chantha Kim. Design by Tony Victoria, Ronnie Elefaño, HatYai Narathiwat River and Keech Hidalgo; typesetting by Aileen Magparangalan and Edith Creus. Yala Provincial Boundary International Boundary NOTE: In this publication, “$” refers to US dollars. Boundaries are not necessarily authoritative. Currency equivalents are as of December 2008. MALAYSIA 98o 00'E 108o 00'E Introduction Profiles of Cross-Border Activity he stories in this publication are snapshots Three examples—which all include border points— of various cross-border activities captured are the stretch between Jinghong and Mohan in during a 19-day trip along the Greater the PRC, Highway 3 between Boten and Houayxay Mekong Subregion (GMS) North−South and in Lao PDR, and the link between Poipet and Serei TSouthern Corridors in January 2009. Saophoan in Cambodia. The journey began in Nanning, Guangxi As the stories show, the roads are opening up a host Province, People’s Republic of China (PRC) and of opportunities for businesses big and small. In included northern Viet Nam; Yunnan Province, PRC; Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, PRC, at least the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR); one major flower producer has started sending daily Thailand; and Cambodia before ending at Bavet, container trucks down the 1,800-kilometer highway Cambodia’s border with southern Viet Nam. to Bangkok. They deliver roses, lilies, and carnations—bound for Southeast Asia and the It was a timely trip as some sections of the Mideast—and bring back orchids. In Jinghong, a highways had been recently built or upgraded. petroleum trader is importing gasoline and diesel In societies with isolated health care in rural areas, a road can make a difference between life and death. • In Kunming, one major flower • In Cambodia, these children producer is sending specially- in a primary school by a newly cooled containers 1,800 km upgraded highway no longer down the North−South Corridor arrive covered in dust or mud to Bangkok from Bangkok and exporting the oil to people at either end and on dry data, such Myanmar through Ruili. as traffic flows or customs reports on goods. Besides, in the larger and more complex Small enterprises are also sprouting up. economies that need expressways, roads are At Mohan on the PRC−Lao PDR border, a only one of many factors affecting growth. Chinese entrepreneur has bought a bus and is ferrying passengers between Jinghong But in simpler societies rising from a low and Luang Namtha. In Luang Namtha, a base, it is much easier to discern the impact Lao driver has turned entrepreneur after of a new all-weather road in the villages and buying two mini-vans to service a growing small towns along the way, especially when number of tourists, business people, and it has just replaced a dirt track that was development officials. Also in Luang Namtha, near-impassable in the wet season. a Thai woman has opened a restaurant to cater to the increasing busloads of Thai In such places, a paved road transforms life tourists traveling between Chiang Khong and on so many levels. In Lao PDR, it helps village Jinghong. women take paddy to a mill rather than spend hours pounding the rice at home. It Aside from spawning private sector enables rural folk to sell bamboo shoots and enterprises, the new roads, by reducing wild mushrooms in town, and traders to fetch travel times and easing conditions, are khem (dried grass) or rice from the village. boosting tourism in the face of economic In Cambodia, it allows children to arrive downturn. As well as the continuing at school without being covered in dust in popularity of destinations like Cambodia’s the dry season or mud in the wet. It helps a Angkor Wat and Lao PDR’s Luang Prabang, it stone carver bring better quality white stone helps that the PRC’s Yunnan Province and Lao from the northwest and send his statues of PDR’s Namha protected area are among the Buddha all around the country. travel guide Lonely Planet’s top 10 places to visit for 2009. Improved roads are directly In societies with rudimentary health care linked to a 300% surge of Thai visitors to in rural areas, a road can make a difference Jinghong in 2008 and a rising stream of between life and death. One elderly Lao Impact Stories visitors across the border from Thailand into villager recalls how she lost 11 of her northwest Cambodia. 14 children in the days when doctors and nurses were simply unavailable. Now a It’s not permissible to stop on the PRC hospital is a 20-minute ride away. Clearly, expressways that float above the countryside such access helps to bring down rates of on concrete columns or burrow through infant—and maternal—mortality. At Luang mountains, so one has to fall back on meeting Namtha, a doctor at a provincial hospital says 2 • In Thailand, an entrepreneur is manufacturing alternators in Phitsanulok and exporting them to GMS neighbors many rural sick can now make it to a medical use among sex workers has risen to 97% in facility in a few hours instead of a few days— 2008 from 17% in 1994, says Dr. Mean Chhi and ambulances can reach isolated areas in Vun, director of the National Center for HIV/ emergencies. AIDS in Phnom Penh. He reports that the prevalence rate among people aged Inevitably, there are drawbacks as well 15 to 49 has dropped from 2% in 1998 to 0.8% as benefits to improved connectivity and in 2008, and may decline to 0.6% by 2012.